The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
